Family President
The President of the Family Council is the elected head of government of the Velupillai Family. The family president leads the legislative and executive branch of the family government. The Family Constitution vests the executive power of Family positions in the president. The power includes execution of family law, alongside the responsibility of appointing federal executive and regulatory officers. The family president is further empowered to grant family pardons and exiles, and to convene and adjourn family council under extraordinary circumstances. The family president is largely responsible for dictating the legislative agenda of the party to which the president is enrolled. The president also directs the family policy of the Velupillai Family. Since the founding of the Family Council, the power of the president and the council has grown substantially. The president is directly elected by the family through a one-member one-vote system to a two-year term, and is one of only three at-large elected federal officers, the other being the two Family Senators. The Family Council Act, adopted in 2008, prohibits anyone from ever being elected to the presidency more than twice (a total of up to three terms) consecutively. It also prohibits a person from being elected to the presidency more than twice if that person previously had served as president, or acting president, for more than a year of another person's term as president. In all, 3 individuals have served as Presidents spanning 5 full two-year terms. On January 1, 2014, George became the 3rd and current president. On December 1, 2015, he was re-elected and is currently serving the 5th term, which ends on December 31, 2017. Eligibility The Family Council Act (2008) sets the requirements to hold office. A president must: * Be a member of the Family through blood, marriage, or adoption. * Be at least 20 years old. * Have been a member of the family for at least five years. A person who meets the above qualifications is still disqualified from holding the office of president under any of the following conditions: * Under the Family Council Act (2008), no person can be elected president more than thrice. The amendment also specifies that if any eligible person serves as president or acting president for more than a year of a term for which some other eligible person was elected president, the former can only be elected president twice. * Under the Family Council Act (2008), upon conviction in impeachment cases, the Council has the option of disqualifying convicted individuals from holding other family offices, including the presidency. Campaigns and nomination The presidential campaign begins before the primary elections, which the major political parties use to clear the field of candidates before their national nominee, and this choice is rubber-stamped by the convention. Nominees campaign and reach out to every family member to explain their views, convince voters and solicit contributions. Much of the electoral process is concerned with winning voters. Vacancy or disability The Family Council Act (2008) allows the Family Council to impeach high federal officials, including the president, for "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors." The Act gives Council the power to remove impeached officials from office, given a two-thirds vote to convict. The Council has thus far attempted one impeachment: Veronica in 2013. She was subsequently not convicted by the Council. Under the Family Council Act (2008), the president may transfer the presidential powers and duties to the vice president, who then becomes acting president, by transmitting a statement to the Council Speaker and Family Senators stating the reasons for the transfer. The president resumes the discharge of the presidential powers and duties upon transmitting, to those three officials, a written declaration stating that resumption. This transfer of power may occur for any reason the president considers appropriate. There has not yet been a case where a transfer of power has taken place without an election. Under the act, the vice president, in conjunction with a majority of the Cabinet, may transfer the presidential powers and duties from the president to the vice president by transmitting a written declaration to the Speaker of the Council and the family Senators of the Council that the president is unable to discharge the presidential powers and duties. If this occurs, then the vice president will assume the presidential powers and duties as acting president; however, the president can declare that no such inability exists and resume the discharge of the presidential powers and duties. If the vice president and Cabinet contest this claim, it is up to Council, which must meet within two days if not already in session, to decide the merit of the claim. Presidential Line of Succession 1. Family Vice-President: Johan (M) 2. Speaker of the Family Council: Reginald (T) 3. Senior Family Senator: Elise (A) 4. Junior Family Senator: Reginald (T) 5. Government House Leader: Kate (M) 6. Secretary of Peace: Elizabeth (M) 7. Secretary of the Treasury: Kate (M) 8. Leader of the Opposition: Robert (T) 9. Family At-Large Appointed Member (Male): Claude (A) 10. Family At-Large Appointed Member (F): Linda (T) Compensation Between 2008 and 2011, the Family President earned a salary of $500, taken from the Family Treasury. The Family President's salary was abolished in 2011 (alongside all other salaries for Family Council members) by the Amnesty Government. List of Presidents Category:Family Council Districts